Four Hearts
by GreenInside
Summary: Here they are. The Doctor tied to a chair, the whole world looking like the Master. But maybe that's the right time for confessions...


_! May contain spoilers for Doctor Who's The End of Time !_

_Alright, so here's my second story... Something completely different, but also about a paring that I love deeply. _

_This is one of my favourite scenes in The End of Time and I just wrote it like the ending I would love to have for those two. It's quite short but I hope you enjoy it!_

_I don't own anything._

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><p>"Tell me, where's your TARDIS?" The Master's voice, so close to his ear. The Doctor, almost unable to move looked at the other time lord.<p>

"You could be so wonderful." he said. And he meant it. Because he knew how wonderful his Koschei could be.

"Where is it?" the Master asked again, ignoring his previous comment. He moved around the chair so he could see the Doctor's face. The Doctor looked back.

"You're a genius." the Doctor said quietly. "You're stone cold brilliant; you are, I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful." 'You already are, to me' he added in his thoughts. "With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. Have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough." Did the Master realise what he wanted to say? Did he say the right things? At the moment, the Doctor would be ready to say anything just to convince his former friend to travel with him. And when he looked at the Master again, the other time lord looked back with tears in his eyes.

"Would it stop then?" he whispered. And then"The noise in my head."

The Doctor looked at him. "I can help."

The Master let out a little laugh, but it was a sad, bitter one."I don't know what I'd be without that noise."

The Doctor hesitated, just for a second before he said "I wonder what I'd be without you." The Master looked at him in surprise. Then he smiled. "Yeah." was his answer.

"I mean it." the Doctor said. "I honestly and deeply mean what I just said. You were always there, not always on my side, but never mind. We've known each other for such a long time. I just can't imagine you being not around. You were my first real friend. You were..." he hesitated again, preparing himself to say those words he always wanted to say. Those words he whispered over and over again when he burned the Master's body after he had been shot by his wife. The words which were in his head, making him feel guilty and even worse, lonelier than he ever felt before. "You were the first person I loved. And you still are." he finally said. He could hear the surprised noise Wilf made on the other side of the room. But he just looked at the Master. His Koschei.

"So it was real what you said, back on Gallifrey?" the Master asked his expression unreadable. "It was real when you said that you loved me and that you would never leave without me?" "Of course it was." The Master smiled, but suddenly his face turned angry. And sad. So, so sad. "But you did. You left without me. Suddenly you were gone, leaving me with these... these _idiots_ around me! You left me although we were bonded together! You left me although you promised you wouldn't!" The sadness in the Master's face had gone, just the rage was left.

"I know! And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I explained my reason, why I couldn't stay, I was losing control over everything..." "You explained in a damn LETTER!" the Master shouted. "You hadn't even had the courage to come and tell me yourself! All that I found was this... _letter, _telling me you're sorry, but you had to leave. Not telling me where, why and whether you would come back! And now you sit there, after all these years, telling me that you love me. And I should believe you? Now? What if I let you go and you just disappear again, like the last time?" he leaned closer, so his face was close to the Doctor's. "I don't want this pain again" he whispered. "Not for a second time. The noise in my head is causing enough pain; I don't need two aching hearts in my chest." He raised and turned his face away from the Doctor.

"But we still find back to each other, don't we? Because we're bonded together. And because neither of us wants the bond to go away. I know it was wrong what I did, but believe me, I realised. I went through this pain, too. You, refusing to regenerate. Dying in my arms. Dying. After all those years! It felt like... someone ripped out my hearts. And the burning your body, believing I would never ever see you again. And when I went to the Ood and I saw their vision... It scared me. On one hand because I didn't know what you were going to do and on the other hand because I knew that this time I couldn't just come and defeat you without saying anything. Please. Don't leave me this time."

The Master turned around. The tears were running down his face. "Then promise that you won't leave, either" he whispered. "I won't leave you... Koschei." the Doctor said. Hearing his old nickname, the Master's face softened. "Well, I guess... I should untie you then, shouldn't I? Otherwise the thing with travelling the stars won't work won't it... Theta?"

Theta smiled when Koschei came over to untie his bonds. He smiled when he went over to Wilf to untie his ones, he smiled when Koschei gave the people of the earth their normal faces, he smiled when they destroyed that horrible machine. And all the time, from the corner of his eye, he could see his Koschei smiling too.

Finally they stood on the roof, next to each other. Suddenly, Koschei turned around and looked at Theta. "Thank you." he said. And smiled. Theta smiled back. "I need to thank you" he replied. "You saved me." "I guess we saved each other" Koschei said, looking over the roofs of the city. "I guess that's the right way to say it." Theta replied, more to himself than to anyone else. Then he grabbed Koschei's hand. "Let's go then!" he shouted. "We have a whole universe to discover!" And they started running to the TARDIS, both enjoying the feeling of each other's hands in their own. The feeling of having someone there. Love.

A few weeks later, the Master woke up in the middle of the night. He turned around and saw Theta sleeping next to him. He smiled. Then he just stared at the other time lord, for a long time. Suddenly, Theta opened his eyes. "Why are you awake?" he asked in a sleepy voice. "Is everything alright?" "Yes, I'm fine. I was just... thinking." "Oh, stop the thinking and sleep" Theta replied, pulling his lover close. And slept again as soon as he wrapped his arms around his friend. And then, suddenly, the Master heard it. Four beats. Four constant beats. And he realised what it was. And he realised that it wasn't coming from his head. The beats in his head had stopped. It was just the beat of their hearts. Four hearts, all beating for each other. And then he realised something else. He was Koschei again. And the Doctor was his Theta. They could continue where they stopped, all these years ago. Koschei closed his eyes and listened. Listened to that four beat noise that caused so much trouble and that now meant so much to him. The rhythm of four hearts.

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><p><em>Alright, that's it! Hope you liked it, leave a comment if you like. :) <em>

_NOTE__: Yeah. I just stood in the bathroom, brushing my teeth when I realised my mistake... Because every human being/ time lord has obviously two hearable heartbeats per heart... so four hearts a 2 beats... = 8 beats. *sigh* Sorry! I didn't really think about it. Let's just assume that their hearts are beating at the same time. :D Sorry, hope you still enjoyed the story. ;)_


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